Christians Voting for Trump?

Written by Pastor Calvin Lindstrom

Recently, one of my former students sent me a link to a video. It comes from a TikTok account, canceledchristian, which contains content from a young woman raised in a Christian fundamentalist family who attended Pensacola Christian College.

The purpose of her account is ”Exposing Christian Fundamentalism.”

In the video linked above, this young woman asks two main questions of Christians who support Donald Trump.

1] Why do Christians believe Donald Trump is a Christian?

2] Why do conservative Christians not accept a practicing homosexual as being a Christian, and yet they will vote for Trump who has committed adultery, married multiple times, and has even been convicted in a civil court for assault?

In this second longer question, she said she was raised to be judgmental and so wonders why Christians can give support to Trump in light of this context.

As of the writing of this article, this video has gotten some good exposure with nearly 48,000 likes and over 9,600 video comments.

The first question is quite easy to answer.

I do not personally believe Donald Trump is a true Christian. He recently expressed to Laura Ingraham that religion gives you hope and that if you are good, you are going to heaven.

In an older video from 2015, he shared with Frank Luntz a little more about his religious background and how he sat under the false teaching of Norman Vincent Peale. When asked whether he had ever asked God for forgiveness, he could not give a positive answer.

Rather, he simply stated that when he does wrong, he tries to make it right and does not bring God into that picture. He did speak of receiving communion as a cleansing ritual and said he likes to do that as often as he can.

Salvation is not given because you can pass a theological exam, but it would appear that Donald Trump sadly does not understand the true message of the gospel found in God’s work through Jesus Christ.

Two sociologists coined the term “Moral Therapeutic Deism” as an expression of what many people believe about religion, even when coming from very different religious backgrounds. It might be safe to say that this is an aspect of what Donald Trump believes even though he would identify as being a Protestant Christian.

The second question points to greater theological confusion. It is not a contradiction, though it might seem to be, to vote for someone like Donald Trump for President and yet not accept the testimony of someone living a homosexual lifestyle as being a Christian.

Now, the homosexual lifestyle is not the only category of sin that disqualifies someone from truthfully claiming regeneration through Christ, but God’s Word speaks clearly on this issue:

“But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person” (1 Corinthians 5:11).

In the next chapter, we find a similar warning and also a word of hope for those who turn from these sins:

“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:9–11).

The TikToker said she was raised to be judgmental.

I cannot speak to her upbringing, but as believers, we should teach our children to make judgments and discern righteously, without being filled with pride and a sense of superiority.

It is God’s grace and mercy, not our own righteousness, that has saved us.

Just like anyone else, without an expression of his repentance and confession of the Lord Jesus Christ, Donald Trump should not be eligible for church membership or even receiving the Lord’s Supper.

The United States Constitution defines our nation as a republic with our president and legislators elected according to a democratic process. Voting is a solemn act in which we the governed give consent to grant delegated power to those who are properly elected.

Christians who vote for Trump are frequently accused of only being concerned with power, but every voter is concerned with power and responsibility. The question is, who do we want to have this power?

Moses’ father-in-law gave valuable instructions when Moses needed help in his leadership of Israel.

“Moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens” (Exodus 18:21).

Christians have often looked to this verse as a guide for elections.

I will say this honestly: It is a shame that in the race for President of the United States, our options are former President Trump and current Vice President Kamala Harris.

Yes, there are other candidates, but at this point, we can say if these two are still on the ballot on November 6, one of them will be the next President-elect.

I understand those who say, “I cannot in good conscience vote for either candidate.” But given former President Trump’s first term in office, I believe, despite his many failures and demonstrations of foolishness, he deserves support for this upcoming election.

I abhor the blasphemy of comparing Donald Trump to Jesus Christ in any way. But it is a serious error to argue that Christians should instead cast a vote for Vice President Harris. I believe that would be a wicked thing to do.

Why would I say this? Because Harris has demonstrated through her previous record her support of great evil and punishing those who have done good.

I need only bring up the example of David Daleiden and his exposure of the horrors of Planned Parenthood’s human butchers discussing fees for human fetal tissue and organs. Kamala Harris was the Attorney General of California at that time and was involved in the initial investigation into David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt.

A recent news report indicates that video footage obtained by Daleiden was suppressed by then-California Attorney General Harris. Further according to this same news report,

“Harris … was directly involved in the prosecution of Daleiden. This includes the controversial decision to raid Daleiden’s home, during which officers took his personal laptop and multiple hard drives.”

How could a Christian support someone who aids the wicked and prosecutes the righteous?

Consider the other Christians who have come under fire for standing for biblical values: Jack Phillips, Aaron and Melissa Klein, Jim and Beth Walder, Barronelle Stutzman, and others. In each of these cases, I believe it is clear that Vice President Harris would support the prosecution of these believers simply for not wanting to violate their conscience.

Voting for Harris means voting for the prosecution of Christian business owners who do not bow before the idol of LGBTQ+ ideology.

It means supporting the horror of child mutilation through the trans movement.

It means making way to enshrine Roe into law nationwide. It makes me furious to think of ever voting for someone like this.

Imagine you are in a building that is on fire. You call the fire department, assess the situation quickly, and then determine to jump while you can. I liken this to voting for Donald Trump. It’s the best option we have.

Voting for Vice President Harris, in my opinion, is like pouring gasoline on the fire.